Although The Australian Voices toured China once before (twice if you include Taiwan), the line-up – conductor and all singers – has since turned over completely, so our trip in December 2012 was a first. Like the naive protagonist at the beginning of a roadtrip movie, I felt overly confident and giddily unaware of what was in store.

I had the great pleasure of watching Orchestra Victoria play my arrangement of Waltzing Matilda with Greta Bradman and four star Chinese tenors – Gu Xin, Chi Liming, Xue Haoyin & Yang Yang. All for Chinese New Year!